Pros
Luckily I applied to a wonderful GUESS store whereas I've been reading from some other reviews that others werent as fortunate. The management team here is absolutely wonderful. We have a General Store Manager, a few Comanagers and an Asst. Manager, all of whom are very nice, caring and fun to joke around with while at the same time are all still professional, knowledgable and efficient. Each comanager specializes in different areas varying from LP, HR/training and visuals. We also have a stock associate, desk associates, a visual associate and a footwear specialist. It really helps to have coworkers who specialize in certain areas. After all there is no way all of us sales associates could keep the stock room and shipping organized and maintained along with having a thorough knowledge of what is in there and where. we're constantly getting in new items and a lot of shipment thats why.
We often have contests where u can win things ranging from iPods and iPhones to gift cards to our store or Starbucks to movie tickets. Every major holiday weekend and other important weekends the company gives the store money and management uses it to buy food and drinks for us. They also bring in movies for us to watch on our breaks. You cant help but feel a bit spoiled sometimes :)
I also like how we get paid 15 min breaks for most shifts. Its not often in retail that they'll constantly give u paid breaks, even if it is small.
I also like how our district is small which, trust me, definitely helps. At my last job there were around 14-15 stores in our district so we rarely got to see our District Manager and she was so busy all the time that she almost never called back when we had questions. She would also constantly confuse stores, especially when it came to floor sets. Also despite having several sister stores (G by Guess, Marciano, Guess Accessoires, Guess Factory, etc), our District Manager onle oversees the Guess by Marciano stores and doesnt touch the other stores. At my old job our sister store was considered a part of our district so the District Manger was constantly confusing deadlines and what not between the 2 types of stores.
There is a lot of positive reinforcement at our store. When they can (often we get crazy busy) the management will compliment us when they see how hard work and take notice in even the small things we do which cant help but make u smile and think, wow, people actual notice. They also try and help out or send help when they can if u request it or they see u need it.
I also love how they pay you to the minute that you work. You have to work an extra half hour because it gets busy or you want to finish up with your customer? You get paid for it. You'd be amazed at how at some jobs people have to come in on their days off or stay late to meet ridiculous deadlines while not getting paid a single penny for it.
Every so often there will be a week or two or just a weekend where you can get a greater employee discount than your normal one. Sometimes its only on certain things like denim but most of the time its on the entire store, sale and watches included.
You can wear shorts and a tank top to work if you want (of course they prefer it to be from Guess). It's supposed to be tasteful though.
Cons
NO COMMISSION!!! Even with the high price points. Only management gets a bonus for exceeding sales goals. Even though you don't get commission your still responsible for making your goal. Its pretty important. You dont get chewed out if you dont make it at least.
Especially when u first get hired u get oncall shifts constantly and like another reviewer said u have to call in 2 hours before your shift and that sucks. Also sometimes part of your shift will be oncall so your not always sure when you will be going home. or what time you'll start work. This can go on for the first 2 months and even after that you'll still get on calls here and there. The more you sell, the less likely you'll get oncall shifts
You have to wear heels. For someone who only wears flats it will suck for them, unless theyre careful about it. Some people can get away with it if they wear flat boots or something. Either management doesnt notice or they just dont care. At least you dont have to wear high heels, just heels of some sort.
They don't give you money to buy their merchandise. However because of this by law they cant force you to wear their clothes. Our managers tell us at first that we have to wear Guess clothes (any clothes and accessories from any of our sister stores are included) but they never check. Plus in the new hire manual you get it never says that you have to wear their merchandise. It just says you cant wear logos from other stores and stuff like that, which is reasonable and something almost all retail stores have as a rule also. If you do work at Guess and a manager does force you to buy their clothes I would just show them the manual. If they still dont listen and hassle you, CALL/EMAIL CORPORATE (the same goes for any job you get)!!! Always do that when you have bad managers. You can even leave anonymous complaints.
